Saturday, June 10, 2006

Sinhagad Fort

Today we hired a car and driver and went out for the day, but first here's a picture of some bees. They're hanging off the ceiling of the top floor of our apartment block. Not any more though as they met an unfortunate end, leaving a scene of apiarine carnage in the entrance lobby below. Back to the fort: it's about a 30km drive south of Pune on top of a 1550m hill. Luckily we didn't have to climb it all, especially so for me as I was lugging Roshni too. Still, there were a fair few steps to navigate but the view was worth it. After wandering around the summit we left for a nearby reservoir. The levels are low as we are still pre-monsoon despite my recent drenching. Still, there was enough water for boating and we had a brief ride around in a motorboat. There was a café between the water and car park so we had lunch there. Simple food but very tasty. Roshni followed her meal with a horse ride around the car park. Once dismounted she immediately demanded a ride on a cow. We told her to get in the car and we would find one.Heading back towards Pune we passed another reservoir. This one had camels which made an acceptable cow substitute. Acceptable for Roshni but allow me to inform you that camel's are the transport of last resort. The angles and movements they create when rising or sitting are more alarming than any roller coaster. The lack of any restraint when the beast has angled its back seemingly vertically adds to the fun. Things don't improve much once in motion as the suspension is lousy leading to the rider being bounced into the air with alarming frequency. To enhance the experience our camel joined in a game of waterside football whilst we were on its back.

Roshni hadn't had enough sitting on animals. She pointed at an unclaimed water buffalo rushing through the crowd and requested a ride. It kept on running so a horse had to do, this time with Mum on board too.

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For those with time on their hands or bored at work here are some co-ordinates to stick into Google Earth.